FIFA World Cup - All posts tagged FIFA World Cup

As Germany and Argentina get set to face off for the World Cup title on Sunday, it’s tempting to fall back on hoary stereotypes: the methodical Teutons vs. the creatively gifted South Americans, team orientation vs. virtuosity, sangfoid vs. passion, oompah vs. tango. But, as Barney Ronay writes Friday in the Guardian, not only have their styles of play in Brazil not been dramatically different, but the match constitutes “a meeting of two expertly tended, state-of-the-art” formations — with even the Argentine superstar Lionel Messi, who plays for Barcelona, sometimes characterized as having become European. So it seems we’ll need to look farther afield than soccer to draw our national distinctions.

Well, no one expected this. The highly anticipated World Cup semifinal between Germany and Brazil turned out to be a lopsided, crushing defeat of the host country team, with the final score 7-1. Brazil spent billions of dollars preparing to host the World Cup tournament, with high expectations that home advantage could help them win it all. They were widely considered the favorite before the tournament began. But Germany scored five goals over the space of 30 minutes in a punishing first half, and nothing seemed to go right for Brazil.

Any hope for a miraculous comeback in the second half were beaten down when Germany scored again in the 69th minute — and then again in the 79th minute. Brazil did manage to score the final goal of the game, but will no doubt now face tough questions from the media and public on what went so wrong. People watching all over the world immediately took to social media to express disbelief and sympathy for the Brazilian fans, though plenty of others quickly reverted to schadenfreude.

Contrary to what all those World Cup viewing parties had you thinking, there is another major sporting event happening right now. The 2014 Wimbledon Championship started June 23 and ends this weekend.

Because Wimbledon is coinciding with the 2014 FIFA World Cup, demand for tickets at the tennis championship is down this year, Forbes reported. And World Cup games are banned from playing on TVs on Wimbledon’s grounds, the Mirror reported. Perhaps those World Cup fans are a bit too dodgy for the likes of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Or, maybe they fear the colorful football kit will clash with their all-white dress code.

Which sporting event do you prefer? World Cup or Wimbledon? If you can’t decide, here’s a breakdown of the key differences between the two.

After saving 16 shots fired from the feet of the Belgian “Red Devils” yesterday, the Twittersphere is going crazy with praise for U.S. goalie Tim Howard.

So is there anything, Hero Howard can’t save (aside from America’s World Cup chances)? Under the hashtag #ThingsTimHowardCouldSave, Twitter users are offering their creative suggestions as to what else the U.S. keeper could protect outside the soccer pitch. Such as:

If the Netherlands World Cup team notches three more wins, it will be going somewhere no Dutch team has ever gone before. The players will have won the world’s most highly watched soccer tournament for the first time ever, but they’ll also be going to outer space, according to European news reports.

The offer of free liftoff, which comes via Dutch aerospace company Ruimtevaartbedrijf SXC, seems to be something of an “I’m going to Disney World” exclamation for the 21st century jet setter.

For those who are ready to jump on the bandwagon and pretend like they love soccer all year round, repeat after us: Team U.S.A.! Team U.S.A.! Or, you know, whatever other team you favor. But if you root for the U.S. Men’s National Team when they face off against Germany at 12 p.m. Eastern, coach Jürgen Klinsmann has you covered with your boss.

Fans watching the USA vs. Portugal World Cup game hit a record on Sunday night.

USA and Portugal match

It may have been a heart-breaking 2-2 draw for Team USA, but for ESPN, the game was a win. In the U.S., 18.22 million fans tuned into ESPN to catch the World Cup game, according to Nielsen. That means 1 in 11 U.S. homes watched the game that saw Portugal score in the first few minutes, USA score 2 goals and Portugal come back in the last 20 seconds to equalize the game.

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